Harbor Springs man speaks out against justice system at sentencing

A Harbor Springs man spoke out Tuesday in Emmet County’s 57th Circuit Court about his distaste for plea agreements and the justice system.

Ken Krull of Harbor Springs made it known, during 39-year-old Jonny Lee Johnston’s sentencing Tuesday, Jan. 5, that he believed the Emmet County Prosecutor’s Office had let the victims’ down in this case.

Johnston was alleged in the summer of 2009 to have assaulted, furnished alcohol to, and engaged in sexually abusive activity with minors, as well as distributed child pornography.

He was originally charged with seven felonies — three of which carried a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison — and two misdemeanors.

These charges, however, were dismissed by the court once Johnston agreed to plead guilty to one count of possession of child sexually abusive material, a four-year felony; and one count of attempting to use a computer to commit a crime, a three-and-a-half year felony.

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“Last summer, these children lost a lot of their innocence and relied on the protection of this justice system,” Krull said. “I was told the prosecutor’s office would do everything in their power to put (Johnston) away for a long time ... but then all these kids were victimized again when seven of these felony charges were dropped so this guy could plead to two lesser crimes ... (the victims’) reaction to this was terror.”

“I’m here today to convince you to convict this predator, this manipulator, to the maximum allowable time,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to be enough.”

Judge Johnson agreed that Johnston had received a great amount of leniency in this case, even taking into consideration that Johnston had no prior criminal record.

“The bottom line is this defendant has received a generous plea bargain,” Johnson said. “The undisputed facts of this case establish that the defendant engaged in extremely harmful conduct ... in summary, the court concludes this defendant is a dangerous sexual predator.”

Johnston made an attempt to apologize to his victims and the community prior to sentencing.

“I know what I did was wrong,” he said. “I apologize to you and the community for what was done — I wish it never happened.”

Judge Johnson went on to sentence Johnston to two consecutive prison terms for his crimes, including 23 months to four years in prison, with credit for 90 days already served, for possession of child sexually abusive material; and two years to 42 months in prison, with no credit, for attempting to use a computer to commit a crime.

Christina Rohn

439-9398 - crohn@petoskeynews.com

The Petoskey News-Review maintains a policy to protect victims of criminal sexual conduct. The comment function has been disabled as posts may point to the victim's identity.